The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may or may not constitute prior art.
The quantity of systems and hardware with which an individual interacts on a daily basis continues to grow with rapid pace of technological advancement. Moreover, such systems and hardware have become increasingly complex as the quantity and variety of systems operated or controlled electronically has grown. To manage the parameters associated with each piece of hardware, increasingly complex systems with increasingly numerous operator selectable settings are commonly used. Selectable settings can be managed in individual human-machine interface (HMI) associated with each of the systems, however with the rise of touch-screen interfaces, many of the settings can now be accessed directly through a single HMI, or other such access points. While the ability to manage a wide variety of systems and settings is desirable, navigating through a menu structure that includes settings for a large quantity and variety of systems can be complex, confusing, and require a significant amount of operator attention. This is particularly true in cases where the HMI is primarily a touch-screen interface, because many such touch-screens provide little or no haptic feedback. Without haptic feedback navigating menu structures to access particular functions can be challenging without spending significant amounts of time looking directly at the touch-screen(s). That is, as menu structures to access specific functions become more complicated and/or convoluted, it can be difficult to successfully and accurately access specific functionality for a specific piece of hardware, thereby increasing the amount of time an operator must invest in order to access each desired function.
Thus, while current control systems and methods achieve their intended purpose in providing access to a wide variety of applications and selectable functions within a wide variety of hardware devices, there is a need for new and improved systems and methods for accessing functionality within a wide variety of hardware devices. Moreover, there is a need for a system and method which reduces operator time investment, and thereby reduces the potential for operator frustration, while providing consistency and portability with respect to haptic feedback, functionality, and accessibility.